Maybe Someday
by merelysurviving
Summary: simulation au where the machine never existed (shown in 05x12 .exe) isa!shaw samaritan!root. Cole begins to question orders, causing a hit to be put on him and his partner Shaw. Though, when Root finds Shaw to be her first worthy opponent she is intrigued by her, determined to find out more about the traitorous operative and finding herself in the process... leading to someday...


_[!]:. variable: machine_  
 _[!]:./calculating alternate trajectory..._  
 _probable outcome: 96.8%_

 **Chapter One: Kindling Curiosity**

 _[!]:./searching for operative:  
_ _name... [access restricted]_  
 _alias..._ _ **shaw, sameen**_  
 _verifying i.d..._  
 _identity confirmed._  
 _asset located._

 _[!]:./location analysis_  
 _identified..._  
 _Washington, D.C._  
 _local time... 16:47_

One hand was to be no more than six inches away from the H&K USP Compact .45 ACP that was concealed inconspicuously in a holster placed laterally on her right hip, that was Sameen Shaw's rule. That was when she was not in a threatening situation, however, and when she was placed in a set of circumstances that led to to have reasonable concern for her own well being she was to be touching that weapon and have easy access to the two other weapons placed on her body at all times. Under her pantsuit an ankle holster held her Beretta Nano 9mm, her trusty spare piece that had gotten her out of more than a few sticky situations, and a tactical pocket knife on her left hip.

Currently there was a definite threat to her survival, cause of death being fatal boredom. There were many aspects of her job that she found worthwhile and thrilling, seeing as adrenaline rushes were the closest thing that she got to an emotion, and because of that she served without a second thought. But when she had signed up for the U.S. Army Intelligence Support Activity, she had not signed up to listen to paranoid whack-jobs talk all about the government having eyes everywhere.

Remember the objective. Neutralize the threat. All she had to do was listen to this guy for a couple more minutes and find out if there is anyone else that can be perceived as a threat and then eliminate the target. Most people don't enjoy the work that they do, so when they get their lunch breaks or have a job that supplies a lot of vacation days, it's generally their favorite parts of the job. But Sameen Shaw was different, she loved what she did. The hunt, the luring, and the final action of neutralization.

Shaw could say that she liked it because she wanted to protect her country and the innocent lives that were put at stake when even one of the threats slip through the cracks... but that would be a heinous lie. She loved the rush of ending the life of a person, and sometimes she didn't even care whether they were a threat to national security or not, she just wanted to shoot something. The something that she wanted to shoot at the present moment was sitting in front of her, talking her ear off about subject matter that she wasn't even paying attention to; she could deduce that this lunatic was raving about the government watching them all, though.

As if her partner, Michael Cole, in the van outside knew exactly what she was thinking, probably from the fact that she hadn't interjected with any snide comments, he spoke into her earpiece. "Kill him after you find out if he has told anyone, Shaw." The female operative wanted to snap at him, but knew she couldn't without being terribly obvious to the man in front of her that she wasn't who he perceived her to be.

Cautiously but with intent she spoke through gritted teeth as she tried to play the part of a concerned lawyer from the Office of Special Counsel meeting with him to discuss the gross violations of law performed by the government and offer him protection. "It seems that none of your information is irrelevant, Mr. Peck." Stressing the fact that she was speaking to the whistle-blower and that the information supplied by her partner was, in fact, irrelevant. She had this in the bag.

Henry Peck seemed to be oblivious to her very bad theatrics and continued on with his story. "After nine eleven, the government wanted a system that could watch everyone and everything, and if I'm right, then somebody really built the damn thing, which is why I called you."

The raven haired woman didn't know what emotion to try and display to him as he told her that. Whether it be concern for the creation, anger against the creator, surprise at the new information that was supposed to be life-changing, she wasn't sure. So in an attempt to keep the shambles of her cover together she simply didn't show any emotion, hoping that he would just take it as her being cordial.

"You did the right thing." She said, inwardly cringing at how monotone she sounded. But, honestly, she just really wasn't even in the mood to try and woo him with her fake charms, he was going to be dead in a couple of minutes anyways. "Your secret is safe with us." It will die with you. Shaw almost chuckled at the thought, she wasn't lying since technically no one would even talk about whatever this Mr. Peck was rambling about anyways.

Peck nodded, accepting her statement and leaning in slightly as though someone was listening. Shaw realized that he wasn't crazy though, since Cole was in the van outside listening to the entire conversation and recording it word for word. "The Office of Special Counsel is my only recourse." He paused and looked around as though a bunch of Federal Agents were about to barge in and whisk him away, "And I've begun to fear for my safety."

"Well, our job is to protect." Again, Shaw didn't technically lie. Tired of pretending like she gave a damn she went straight to the chase, hoping that she could just get out of here and grab a sandwich from the deli a couple of blocks down. "Have you told anyone else about this?"

The man shook his head, keeping intense eye contact with the operative as he spoke. "No. It's just you."

Shaw relaxed slightly, that meant that she would be able to grab a sandwich since they were not going to be reassigned to a new target and associate of the former Mr. Peck. Smiling tightly, though it was genuine because she didn't have to worry about Peck's presumed associates she said: "That's good." And a look of momentary relief crossed his face, right before shock and a grunt as the silenced gunshots went off.

The man across from her looked down at his abdomen where she had shot him, one to the pancreas and one to the lung, ensuring a high probability of death. Terror began to take hold as his body involuntarily shook, she couldn't tell if it was from the pain of being shot or from the fear. Judging by the fact that she didn't shake when she was shot, it was probably the latter.

His breathing was becoming more and more labored as he looked up at her, eyes wide. She tried to decipher his feelings, maybe a mix of fear and... betrayal? Brushing it off since she didn't really care in the first place she justified her earlier words in finishing her sentence. "It makes my job a lot easier."

Not letting a good scotch go to waste, she grabbed his drink after putting her weapon back in the holster, downing the bitter liquid and quirking her eyebrows with a smirk. "Thanks for the drink."

Standing very nonchalantly the operative turned on her heels, walking out calmly as though she hadn't just shot and killed a man, removing the glasses that were put on for the cover and clearing her throat after the alcohol burned the back of it. Speaking to Cole quietly, as to not draw attention to the fact that she was talking to 'herself', her voice was calculated and detached. "Target's down."

The man, who was definitely already aware of that fact considering that he had both eye and ears on her in the bar, spoke with a chastising tone that Shaw didn't appreciate but stomached, seeing as he was pretty much the only person that she could tolerate. "I know you hate small talk, Shaw, but why didn't you hear the guy out first? Sounds like he had a story to tell."

Rolling her eyes on cue, Shaw pursed her lips. That was Cole, questioning orders, and not for the first time. If he wasn't careful he was going to ring the wrong bell when he was looking into their organization- research that she pretended she didn't know about- and get himself killed. Quickening her pace once she'd exited the bar Shaw spoke a little louder now that she was not in a small space where people would notice her talking to thin air. Speaking to what she had affirmed in more ways that one to her partner she narrowed her eyes even though he couldn't see her, "We weren't sent to listen to stories, Cole. We were sent to eliminate a mole."

The female operative could practically feel the uncertainty and curiosity that was radiating off of her partner and she wished that he would just drop it. That wasn't in his nature though, he had to have a reason why they were killing people, and now he thought that National Security wasn't a good enough one.

"How is it you're always so sure?" He pressed, clearly wanting to get a rise out of her while she wasn't in the vehicle. It meant that she couldn't physically abuse him at the present time, though she'd always had a bit of a soft spot for the man.

That soft spot didn't transfer externally, though, and she spoke with a hard edge. "Because the Intel is never wrong." Opening the door to the van he looked over at her, removing his headset as he could hear her without it now. Looking a bit guilty now for pushing the subject, staring at her with big blue eyes and looking as though he had a lump in his throat.

Shaw may have been able to see a little bit of fear when she glared at him, "You'd be wise to remember that." Indicating that she knew about his little side project of looking into where Research got their Intel from. Though she could have said something to him before, and probably would have, it would mean that she would have to report it back to their handler. She chose to keep some plausible deniability so that she could at least pretend that her partner was not sticking his nose in places where it did not belong.

Without a rebuttal that would normally be immediate in the same situation, he shifted back to his computer to send a notification to the operation's base that the target had been eliminated as Shaw had said while the other operative removed the silencer from her weapon and began to take it apart in order to clean it. It had become a habit now, to clean her weapon after every job, somehow it kept her grounded... and allowed her to think of the crime she had just committed with that said weapon.

Shaw had expected Cole to keep quiet, at least for a little bit longer, so she didn't push her luck and try and talk him out of questioning the orders that he was receiving. Questioning orders will get you killed. She had learned that pretty early on, in the initiation, when they told her that if they suspected her of double crossing the agency they will not hesitate to terminate her contract. And she knew that they didn't mean that she wasn't going to get her pension, she was going to receive a bullet between her eyes and a small nameless stone on the ground where her body would rot. Cole had the same speech she did, which made her frustrated that he would even think about questioning the Intel that they get. It's always right, that was all that had mattered to Shaw, _who care's where it came from?_

But that wasn't Cole. And she knew that. He had to know that they were doing good and he was the kind of guy that had to know how it worked before he could truly understand what it was for. She didn't blame him too much, it was his nature.

Without warning he mumbled something without looking up at her, making her stop in her tracks. "Don't you ever wonder where Research gets their information?"

Shaw had really hoped that he wouldn't say anything, and she kept from making eye contact with him while he asked these damning questions. Clenching her jaw so hard that she felt the muscles strain she pursed her lips, then regained her composure easily and began to work again on cleaning the gun. "No." She knew that if she gave him any more it would just lead to more questions, however, today that seemed to be all he was going to do.

"Why?" Tilting his head he seemed genuinely confused, and she wondered how he would think that she would put her life on the line all for some answers that would do her no good.

Meeting his gaze with a level stare she shook her head, "Because I don't work for Research. If I did then I would need to know. But since I don't, it doesn't matter."

"Yeah, but, don't you think they could get it wrong?" She didn't like where this was going at all so she kept quiet until he was compelled to continue. "Cause that guy didn't seem like a threat to national security, the things he was saying... what if they just sent us to shut him up?"

"So what if they did? If he goes around talking like that there is going to be panic and even more distrust of the government. You heard him yourself, he was going to start spreading lies." Shrugging very nonchalantly she pretended to pay attention to her weapon, feeling the pent up frustration seething off of her partner.

Disgruntled, Cole turned away from her slightly. "Hardly seems like a good enough reason to kill him. And anyways, how do you know they are always right if you don't even know who they are, or where they get the information!" He was getting more and more fired up by the second, up in arms and by the looks of it bold enough to track down Control to ask for himself.

Anger began to seethe into Shaw, the one emotion that she could do, or at least feel somewhat. "You know where they get the numbers from as well as I do! Some dark room where a lot of people feel a lot of pain." The fire began to ebb from his eyes and he began to look like a scared little boy, but now Shaw couldn't stop herself.

"And the reason we don't question Research is because the Intel is never wrong. Never. There hasn't been a time when I didn't know that the target was a threat. So stop digging into this or you're going to end up in the dark room with the rest of the criminals."

If she hadn't been trained as an operative to pay attention to the little things, she may not have noticed his small whisper. "Well I don't think that we should kill someone just because they are speaking the truth."

Pausing, she gave him a hard stare, knowing the look on his face. "What did you do?"

"When you weren't listening to Peck, I was. He said so many things that made sense... so I called my hacker friend and-"

"You did what?" Shaw snapped, throwing her hands in the air. Clearly he wanted to commit suicide. He had to have known that Control monitors all outgoing calls from them. "Do you know how dangerous that is!"

"Yeah, but what I found out was worth it. That buddy of mine had hacked into the pentagon undetected a while ago and they found this file system with just some plain data on it that was super encoded. They broke the code and it was about a surveillance system, just like Peck was saying. The killed him because he knew about something that they didn't want to get out... not because he was spreading lies."

Shaw groaned at his ignorance and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to stay calm. "It doesn't matter, leaking government secrets is just as bad."

"Not when the people have a right to know." Cole insisted, looking determined and still a bit guilty. That little look of guilt let her know that he clearly had not shared everything with her.

"What else did you do?"

"I talked with Control, asked to speak with her and one of the senators running the program, so that I can figure out why they shut him up... I will keep you out of it I swear."

The pleading look that he gave her annoyed her even further, but she bit back the nasty comment that was threatening to burst out and rolled her eyes. It didn't matter what he did, they were partners, everything that he did reflected on her and this could mean the death of him if he didn't play his cards right. She just hoped that he'd had the brains to at least ask for the meeting with a bit of tact. "Whatever, it's your funeral. Let's just go."

Climbing into the front of the van Shaw opened the sun visor above the driver's side and caught the keys that Cole predictably placed there, shoving them into the ignition and taking out a small portion of her frustration on it, wishing that she had another target that moment to really help her let loose. Cole seemed to sense the annoyance when she cranked the engine to life with a little more force than was entirely necessary and he shut the laptop and sat in the seat next to her, buckling up. Without glancing over she pulled off of the curb towards the deli with the great sandwiches, "Going to grab a sandwich, take the van and burn it somewhere."

Cole just grunted slightly, deep in his own thoughts apparently. It didn't bother Shaw though, the opposite really,especially after the conversation they'd just had. She was the type of person that could go on for the rest of her life and never have another person talk to her. She'd found that most things that people say are irrelevant, and if they do pertain to her she could still just as easily operate without the verbal communication. After an action, they generally didn't spend all that much time together, if they both did take the car to burn it in a designated place by Control they would go their separate ways then and not see each other for a while. Sometimes she could go weeks without another action being called in, and sometimes they were immediate as more threats than usual came in for whatever reason. Making it down to the corner of the block she pulled on a red curb, putting her warning flashers on and hopping out quickly so that Cole could take her spot and head out without being flagged down.

Parting without speaking was something that she was comfortable with, but because she was worried about the fact that her partner had not said anything since he had told her that he was going to try and investigate internally, she decided that some parting words were in order. Folding her arms and nestled into her jacket as the cold air seeped in and Cole looked at her with pointed confusion, not sure why she hadn't just left him as per her usual. Awkwardly she said: "I'll see you when we get a new objective." Not sure what to say exactly.

That seemed to get a little bit of the normal Cole back, and he looked as though he just remembered something. In the stoic way that he usually did everything. "It's soon. When I called Control we were given a new action back in New York. We fly out tomorrow."

Shaw sighed, she didn't even have a day to spend in Washington D.C. before it was time to go, and she had really been looking forward to some down time in a spacious hotel paid for by work while waiting for them to contract her to kill someone else. Deciding that the flight would be worth it for the adrenaline rush at the end of putting a bullet in the new target she nodded and turned to head into the deli, "Well then I guess I'll see you tomorrow."


End file.
